Immigration Judges: 26 Sworn In as Bench Growth Lags Hiring

The Justice Department added 26 immigration judges to the bench on Oct. 22, swearing in 22 permanent immigration judges and four temporary ones at its National Advocacy Center in Columbia, South Carolina. It was the ninth investiture class of 2026, and the Executive Office for Immigration Review’s own staffing table shows that the steady stream of new judges has enlarged the bench far less than the ceremonies suggest.

Attorney General Todd Blanche appointed the class, and Chief Immigration Judge Teresa L. Riley administered the oath. Acting EOIR Director Sirce E. Owen said the agency is “dedicated to bringing on board new immigration judges in record numbers.” Counting the nine 2026 investiture announcements together, the year’s classes total 320 permanent judges and 72 temporary judges, a tally calculated from EOIR’s press releases.

Where the new immigration judges will sit

The biographies EOIR released with the announcement spread the 26 judges across 21 courts. Five of the 22 permanent judges go to immigration adjudication centers: three to Falls Church, Virginia, one to Richmond and one to Fort Worth. New York receives four, split between the Broadway and Federal Plaza courts, and the West Los Angeles court receives two. The rest go one apiece to courts from Baltimore and Chicago to New Orleans and Santa Ana, and the four temporary judges are headed to San Diego, Oakdale, Miami’s Krome detained court and Tacoma.

Adjudication-center judges hear cases by video, a pattern covered here earlier this month. The judge deciding a case may sit hundreds of miles from the courtroom where the respondent is told to appear.

Record hiring, a modest net gain

The agency hired 192 permanent judges in the first three quarters of fiscal 2026, more than in any full fiscal year the table covers.

Fiscal year	Judges hired	Judges on board at period end
2022	104	634
2023	133	734
2024	46	735
2025	14	634
2026 (Oct. 1, 2025, to June 30, 2026)	192	662

Source: EOIR Adjudication Statistics, “Immigration Judge (IJ) Hiring,” data generated July 2026. Counts include re-employed retired judges and exclude temporary immigration judges.

The gap is simple arithmetic. Starting from 634 judges and adding 192 hires would have produced 826 judges if no one had left; the table shows 662. That implies about 164 judges came off the rolls in nine months, a calculation from EOIR’s figures. The same math for fiscal 2025 implies about 115 departures in a year with just 14 hires. The table does not say why judges left, and it excludes temporary judges, 53 of whom were on board in June.

Classes sworn in on July 29, Aug. 27 and Sept. 24 added 119 permanent judges after the June snapshot, and Thursday’s class adds 22 more, all according to EOIR’s announcements. In May, EOIR said its corps was growing to “nearly 700.” Whether it clears that mark, and stays there, depends on the departure rate.

What a bigger bench changes for pending cases

Headcount is the biggest lever on how fast immigration courts move. The backlog has been falling, though not to the level the White House claimed this week. Courts that receive several new judges at once, such as New York and West Los Angeles, are the likeliest places for hearing dates to move up.

A faster docket is not neutral for every respondent. New judges will be applying a run of recent Board of Immigration Appeals precedents that make delay harder to win, including rulings that ended the presumption of a continuance for U visa petitioners and that let judges discount sworn declarations in motions to reopen. For people waiting on a visa while their case is open, more judges likely means less time; for those with strong claims who have waited years, it may finally mean a hearing date.

Applying to serve as an Immigration Judge

The Immigration Judge role with the Department of Justice’s Executive Office for Immigration Review is open to U.S. citizens and nationals who meet a residency requirement, pass a background check, and file a financial disclosure. Full-time, part-time, and intermittent schedules are available. First-time federal hires at certain high-need courts may get a recruitment bonus of up to 25%. Starting salary is around $ 161,590 per year.

Applicants need a law degree, active bar membership, and litigation or adjudication experience gained after bar admission. They must submit a résumé of two pages or less, a questionnaire, a writing sample of up to 10 pages, and detailed written responses to four Quality Ranking Factors.

You can find about how to become an Immigration Judge in the below job advertisement link.

https://www.usajobs.gov/job/853381500

This article is for general information and is not legal advice.

Sources

Vasanth Vaidyanathan, Esq.

Administrator

Vasanth Vaidyanathan is an immigration attorney with over 20 years of experience focused exclusively on U.S. immigration and nationality law. He holds a LL.M. from California Western School of Law, San Deigo and advises individuals and businesses on employment and family-based immigration matters, including H-1B, PERM, EB categories, and adjustment of status. He has also been a featured speaker at immigration seminars across the U.S. To reach Vasanth visit: https://www.vnathan.com/

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